And here we go!
The WBA World Featherweight Title Match.
Who will leave his name in the history books after today?
A left!
And another left!
It connected after deflecting off the champion's glove!
The opening hit goes to the challenger!
H-He got a hit!
I couldn't connect a single punch despite all my feints!
Cheap feints do no good.
The Old Man went for a direct hit from the start.
He broke his guard with the first left blow...
And struck when he saw the opening!
In world-class matches, you also need to make forceful punches,
not just skillful ones.
That's our Date-san.
That punch will get the champion serious.
Man, he picked a rough opening.
Date goes in!
He doesn't allow the champion to set the pace!
Sorry, but I can't fight at your speed!
You make the match so one-sided when you lead.
I learned that seven years ago!
The challenger rushes!
The challenger's already got him up against the ropes!
That's an in-fight style as good as Ippo's!
You're wrong.
He only started using the defensive style after he made his comeback.
Then what about this?
This forceful boxing...
It's the style from his best days.
That's one hell of a way to make me remember the good ol' days.
I see that you're not too tense about the world title match.
You're going at your pace now. Keep going!
The champion is pretty experienced too.
One would normally start backing away from a sudden rush of punches.
But he's watching.
He looks frighteningly calm.
The champion hasn't lost his composure.
If you keep attacking a calm opponent...
Ah! The champion swapped the positions!
They've switched their position near the rope!
G-Good move!
This is what I was afraid of!
Shit! He's gonna take this chance!
The champion's left!
His left extends more than that!
You can't dodge it with a swayback!
The challenger got out of the rope side with no damage!
It's an incredibly high-level showdown of skills!
I took so many of those long-reaching lefts.
It's the neck twist that he used in the match against you.
If you think about it, he knows the champion's punches firsthand.
The neck twist was for this match.
All the matches up to now might have been mere practice spars for this one.
They are once again facing each other at the center of the ring.
The champion makes the move this time!
The challenger fights back too!
But neither can hit!
It's a storm of lefts!
His left is even with the champion's.
It looks normal for Date-san, but...
That's one hell of a feat.
He's fighting evenly against the world champion.
And the champion didn't use his right even once in the spar with me.
If their lefts are even, then their right punches might be the key here.
When will they use it?
Who'll use it first?
Their lefts cross each other!
They're both slightly stunned.
That was close!
Was that simultaneous?
The right!
And there's the gong!
End of the first round.
A big sigh of relief is heard from the fans.
They were finally relieved of the intensity.
That was a very intense three minutes.
What's going to happen in this match?
I probably won't last for twelve rounds.
It's way too intense!
Because of that clean left blow,
the first round goes to the Old Man with a score of 10-9.
We got the point!
Then, the second round too!
I can't predict the outcome, but I know the second round will be a big one...
because they were both ready to use their right punch at the end.
It means they're ready to fire their cannons.
And they seem to be grasping each other's timing.
It's true that it's hard to land a big hit, but that also means...
Yeah, as soon as they find that chance, they'll finish the match in a flash.
In a flash...
Looks like you're done saying hello to him.
It was more like "been awhile, man."
How good is the champion?
Dunno.
I'm sure he's got plenty more saved up.
Don't lose heart. You still have the lead.
Aren't you the one who's losing heart?
Eiji!
Can't blame you.
Last time, I got beaten in the second round—the next round.
We can't deny the bad omen.
I'll crush that omen first.
I'm different from seven years ago!
He seems pretty tough.
Without a doubt, he's gotten better than before.
That's still not a problem.
I've gotten better too.
We're still relatively on the same ground as before.
That means...
it will end in the next round.
Seconds out!
Here we go with the second round.
I'm sure this will be more intense than the first.
How will the match progress this round?
Huh?
Everyone got quiet.
I know why.
Huh?
Everyone knows that the Old Man was beaten in this round last time.
If they're the same as seven years ago, he'll be beaten in this round again.
If he survives,
that's a sign that he's gotten that much closer to the world title!
Eiji,
you must be feeling the bad omen more than anyone else.
And isn't that exactly why you yourself mentioned it?
The despair and humiliation that you felt in Mexico must be going through your mind right now.
But you must correct the painful past yourself!
The challenger attacks!
Razor-sharp lefts!
That's it! You make the move!
Right blow already?!
But the motion's too much.
You can't hit me like that!
The champion's surprising right!
It struck air, but it was enough to freeze his opponent!
What a shot!
He followed through way beyond the target!
If he gets hit with something like that...
Man, I'm getting goosebumps.
The champion advances using feints!
Date-san's stepping back!
That's no normal pressure.
It's the world's toughest pressure!
The challenger's backing down!
The champion pushed him back to the ropes with just feints!
His body's hesitating to go forward after remembering the past!
Don't chicken out, Eiji!
There's no place to run!
Go against him!
The challenger moves!
But the champion reacts quickly!
A left!
Did it hit?!
No, he killed the power by twisting his head!
And he escapes!
The challenger's excellent move!
Nice!
He doesn't need to be scared of standing against the ropes with that head-twist move!
No, look at that!
He read the escape route!
He corners the challenger, blocking the escape path!
You sure ask for a lot!
He goes in! He switched from the head to the body!
A rush of left body blows!
The corner's not good!
Get outta there, Date-san!
He can't.
He's pushing him back with body blows.
And you can't use the head-twist against body blows.
There's no way to escape!
This is a world title match.
Things aren't so easy that you can use the same tactic twice.
He must be trying to make me guard my body.
I can tell from the big, but light, punches down there.
He's trying to make me lower my guard so he can hit my face!
Then...!
The challenger can't help but lower his guard!
Right on!
You're not the only one who's good at playing tricks!
He was anticipating the move!
The challenger fights back!
The champion's body goes in deep!
It ended up being a counter against the challenger!
And he falls forward!
It ended up being a counter against the challenger!
And he falls forward!
It's not a shame to go down to my body blows.
It's crushed the well-trained abs of numerous challengers up to this point.
The challenger's one-two!
They connected cleanly with the champion's face!
Both the angle and the timing were perfect.
Why didn't it finish him?
An exchange of blows near the corner!
The champion makes a clean hit!
The challenger desperately fights back!
An uppercut!
It blows away the chin!
And an arrow-like straight shot!
It's a skull-smashing powerful shot!
That was strong enough to end it.
H-He can even withstand that?!
It was a tough blow, but I can still go!
He hits back!
The challenger keeps retaliating!
It's a ferocious battle!
It's hard to believe,
but you must have endured punches as strong, or stronger, than mine these past seven years.
I can't believe there was such a boxer in this country.
But that explains this.
The referee breaks in between the two!
It's the end of second round!
The challenger survived the pinch!
The nightmare from seven years ago did not happen this time.
Take that!
I got through it!
I'm different from the last time!
Did you see that, man?
Yes, of course!
I've surpassed my self from seven years ago.
At the age of 30, I'm now confident that I'm strong!
Yeah!
Now I just need to get past the champion.
That right punch...
was my best shot.
He retaliated even after taking it.
That was surprising.
He must have had an experience:
an experience of fighting against a hard puncher like you.
He got here after going through such fierce fights.
I'll admit that I underestimated him a little.
He is indeed strong.
Looking at him made me remember.
Perhaps because I got so accustomed to the world title stage,
I have simply been repeating the task of defending the title.
But I'm now bored of that task.
It's not a bad idea to go back to my old self.
Yeah!
He got through the second round, Takamura-san!
It's proof that he's one step closer to the world title, right?
Yeah!
He got through the pinch by fighting back.
And since he's fighting back each time, Ricardo will start hesitating.
Wow!
He's withstanding such punches, and he's even fighting back!
Hell, of course!
Date-san is representing all of us!
He'll go straight to the belt from here!
Seconds out!
The gong rings while the crowd cheers wildly.
Whoa!
The champion suddenly charges!
The challenger is caught off-guard!
It's a crowd-silencing right blow!
It's a flurry of blows!
The challenger is stuck in the blue corner!
The champion's ferocious attack!
Eiji! Fight back!
Don't let him take the lead!
I want to hit back, but his tempo's different from earlier!
He's producing rough punches like he's a different person!
And they're all aimed at critical spots.
I can't lower my guard carelessly!
T-Takamura-san?! What's going on?!
He became more aggressive, not hesitant!
Shut the hell up!
I'm in shock too!
He had the impression of a fine-tuned machine.
But look now.
He looks way more natural now, throwing those violent punches.
Without a doubt,
this is Ricardo Martinez's true style!
His true style?!
Eiji Date committed a fatal error:
he made Ricardo admit that he's a strong opponent, which made Ricardo remember his old style.
You can't obtain the world title with only an elegant style.
Sometimes, you need a savageness that will cover the ring with blood.
This style, where science and violence are combined,
is Ricardo's true and best style.
The champion continues on despite the guard!
Can the challenger do nothing now?
Damn it!
I can almost see his fangs!
But I know there's no place to hide on the ring!
I'll bite back then!
A well-anticipated counter!
It must've been damaging!
I know that he won't go down with this.
Actually, he probably won't go down for any physical pain no matter who inflicts it today.
He's here with such strong determination.
The only thing that can knock him out is a shot that can destroy him emotionally.
What determination!
He can stay conscious even after that?
But...
He retaliates!
The challenger fights back with guts!
But he can't follow it up!
Damn it!
He's still standing...
But it's still one-sided.
Does it look like a simple punching session?
Both the offense and defense are full of super-high skills.
But it's not!
It's so one-sided!
See!
It's exactly as you see.
There's that much difference between those two.
We thought that he got one step closer to the world title after surviving the second round
when in fact, the Old Man has enough strength to win the title.
But his opponent is not an ordinary world champ.
Clearly, they're on different levels.
N-No way...
The outlook is very gloom here at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
The champion brings out a ferocious, one-sided attack after the third round.
The challenger can only hang on.
The crowd has grown quiet at the sight of such legendary power.
The wall of the world title is indeed very high!
Which round are we on, Old Man?
Don't talk!
Focus on resting!
We're going on to the ninth round.
It's finally the final third.
Man, it's been a tough match.
Did you get hurt somewhere?!
Oh, he got a couple of my ribs.
Broken ribs?!
Since when?!
You'll have unrecoverable damage if you go too far!
I'll throw this in before that happens!
Don't you dare do that.
My steps toward the world title start now.
Bill, how many punches have I connected?
I wasn't counting. Too many to count, actually.
Right.
I've thrown that many punches.
And yet, he's still standing.
He has such astounding toughness.
Is it the dream of a world championship
or the determination for revenge that's keeping him up?
Dream?
Revenge?
No.
I've smashed a countless number of such challengers,
but I see no despair in his eyes.
What is keeping him up?
I can't watch this anymore.
It's worthy of praise to fight against the legendary champion this long.
What?!
The match's not over yet!
I know how you feel,
but Date-san's been beaten to rags already.
And the opponent's more experienced than Date-san.
I can't expect any mistakes coming from him.
He can't turn the match around without some magic.
There is one!
He has a magic punch!
Right.
The Old Man hasn't punched below the chest at all in this match.
Maybe it's so he can deceive the champion's eyes.
Chest...
Oh!
By connecting a pinpoint, corkscrew blow to the heart,
you can completely immobilize your opponent.
It is indeed a magic shot.
Date-san still has that punch!
It's a big shot that won't reach Ricardo under normal circumstances.
But he's not accustomed to lower punches, and adding in the exhaustion of being this far into the match...
Yes, I'm sure Date-san is betting his chances on that too.
That's why he's been hanging on up to now.
He's been waiting for the chance!
The chance to throw the magic punch: the "Heart Break" shot!
We're in the the ninth round, the latter third of the match.
Once again, the champion takes the offensive!
The champion is on the defense again!
He's like a sandbag.
B-But still, when can he make a move?
He can only hold on for so long!
Everything will go down the drain if you go down, Old Man!
No...
He can't even use the "Heart Break" shot if he gets hit any more!
Or...
maybe he has no strength left to retaliate.
A right!
The cannon fires once again!
He twists his head to dodge the shot!
The champion is caught off balance!
It's a chance for the challenger!
But it's a mere tap!
Does he not have the power left to fight back?
That's not it!
He measured the distance!
A twisting shot?
Is it a corkscrew blow?
The champion is guarding his head!
His heart is wide open!
The set-up is perfect!
Go!
"Heart Break" shot!